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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26709982">Dads Are...Weird, To Say The Least</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honey_Butterscotch/pseuds/Honey_Butterscotch'>Honey_Butterscotch</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Zuko Has No Clue What He's Doing [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bato is literally just vibing, Because hes 16, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Communication, Communication between parent and child, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Gratuitous use of parentheses, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Hakoda has the biggest himbo energy, He loves this little gremlin, Healthy Relationships, Im absolutely unapologetic about this, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Mentioned Ozai (Avatar), Minor Aang/Katara, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Parent-Child Relationship, Precious Aang (Avatar), Stubborn Katara (Avatar), Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Trust Issues, Zuko gets immediately attached to toph, Zuko has a baby face guys, healthy parent-child relationship, why</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:53:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,848</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26709982</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honey_Butterscotch/pseuds/Honey_Butterscotch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakoda meets Zuko, and he always liked the thought of adoption. Toph and Zuko are good for each other, just like communication is good for Katara and Hakoda.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Katara (Avatar), Aang &amp; Sokka (Avatar), Aang &amp; The Gaang (Avatar), Aang &amp; Toph Beifong, Aang &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Bato &amp; Hakoda (Avatar), Hakoda &amp; Katara (Avatar), Hakoda &amp; Sokka (Avatar), Hakoda &amp; Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong &amp; Hakoda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Zuko Has No Clue What He's Doing [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893307</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>570</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dads Are...Weird, To Say The Least</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I'm sorry but I have executive dysfunction and schoolwork and my two youngest siblings are ages 2 years and 5 months so that's another thing. Anyways yeah, no, Hakoda is a smart himbo, why do you think Sokka is the way he is? He has such big himbo energy now that I think about it like wow.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>      When the bison came crashing down, Hakoda was not exactly expecting to see his son and his daughter (her chin was <em>exactly </em>as stubborn as Kya's and her glare was just as fierce and blue) and there were two more children accompanying his children along with the Avatar. One of them was a girl with a sharp, vicious grin, no shoes, and a generous coating of dirt on her green clothes and ink black hair and otherwise pale skin. Her eyes were also pale, washed out green but he didn't pay that much mind when she pulled a scrap of metal from her bun and crushed it effortlessly with her bare hand. The other one was barely older than his own son, with skin pale as the metal crushing girl's and black hair just a shade lighter and maybe he would've thought them to be siblings had he not seen the gold as the sun eye not gnarled into a squint by a massive (stomach-churningly shaped because <em>Tui, La, and Other Great Spirits, </em><em>was that hand shaped?) </em>scar once he got close enough. "So, this is Toph and Zuko. Yeah, he's Fire Nation but he's good now!" Katara turned her pinched brows and crossed arms towards Hakoda. "He is <em>not </em>going back to the Fire Nation. Not since his dad is such a fu-" Sokka lightly clapped his hand over her mouth and she turned her glare at him but did not make a move otherwise. Zuko, he noticed, had pulled his shoulders up to his ears and was catching at his sleeves with his arms over his chest, looking ready to pull them over his face should fists start swinging. Something about his name suddenly clicked in his brain.  "Zuko. As in Fire Nation Prince Zuko?" The boy (he was a boy, only an inch or two taller than Sokka, thin but still round faced from stubbornly clinging baby fat and too young to look so beaten) dug nails deeper into his elbows and Toph stepped in front of him like a small but still very, very effective bodyguard. "Yeah, so what? Ya can't ransom him or anything."</p><p>"That's true. If you did try, my father would probably ask you to send him my ashes in a box. Even that is a stretch, I think."</p><p>"I really hate that, Sparky."</p><p>    Bato, who had been at his side, snorted and Hakoda still couldn't help glancing at his best friend's forever scared arm. Forever burned, like a permanent brand of the war he would have to carry until his dying days. Just like Zuko's face. The comparison in age between his best friend's scar and this boy's scar, this boy who probably just betrayed his nation and family by being here with his children and their friends, was despairing. The scar was more than two years old, maybe three years old and from some of the ridges and patching, it had been infected to the point that the prince's left eye most likely didn't work if the burning hadn't stolen the sight all at once. "Well Prince Zuko, do you think you can help us?" The prince's left hand was caught in Toph's and she was twisting metal between the fingers on her right hand. "I'll try, sir."</p><p>"That's all you gotta do, kid."</p><hr/><p>   Chief Hakoda was scary. He was, summarily, terrifying and intimidating. He looked stern, surely those creases at his eyes were from glaring and squinting while he yelled and threw fists, not from smiling and laughing while he sipped ginseng and flipped a white lotus tile between his palms. Not like Uncle. Zuko was glad Toph was holding on to his hand. Her palms were calloused and the pads of her fingers were rough, but her hands were still small and her wrist bumping against his felt like memories that he only saw on good nights when he was too exhausted to have nightmares. They were almost like Azula's hands before she stopped smiling and before she liked to lie. That's was over half his life ago and it set a pain off in his chest that must be what heartbreak felt like. But they were also Toph's hands and they felt a little dusty and still a little soft at the creases between her fingers and Zuko had only known Toph for a day or two. But he also knew that there was a love that big brothers had specially for little sisters buried deep in his heart and it was clawing its way back out like all the other good feelings that had recently begun to tumble out of their hiding places where they'd taken refuge from everyone. Besides being absolutely petrifying, Chief Hakoda was <em>strange. </em>Not like his Uncle, a type of strange that was like jasmine tea and lavender honey and a dozen candles but a type of strange that made him nervous and confused and had his bones rattling and yelling to pitch himself into the sea if the man got too close because he would get hurt if the Chief decided Zuko couldn't be trusted. Katara wasn't helping, her glare fierce and obvious and she refused to look at her father, acknowledge him, instead turning away to find Aang who dimmed her anger with a little exchange of small flowers or just a simple hug. It made him nervous, the way Katara turned her back to the chief, because then she couldn't immediately react if he were to yank her by the hair and throw her into the sand. She couldn't see him raise a fist to knock her off her feet. Maybe it's because she knew Sokka would stop him, maybe take the hit for her. Or maybe it was Sokka who the chief took his anger out on, since he wasn't a bender like Katara, not considered a prodigy like Azu-<em>Katara. </em>"Hey, Sparky? Can you breathe with me right now?" He hadn't noticed how shallow his breathing felt, how lightheaded he was until he started deeply, slowly inhaling with Toph. "I'm sorry."</p><p>"Don't be sorry without actually having a reason to be sorry or I'll turn you into a chair."</p><p>"I-ok?"</p><p>"Good."</p><p>     Momo chirped and flew over his head, perching on his left side. Toph was on his left, and he felt just a little bit safer. And Momo had soft, short fur that smelled like moon peaches and was truly the cutest little lemur ever. Momo keenly rustled fingers through his hair, quick fingers tickling the shriveled shell of his mostly deaf left ear. "I wish <em>I </em>had hair that Momo could comb through." He heard Aang pout behind him, even if the boy was grinning. "So, Sifu Hotman, how long did it take you to grow your hair like this? I think I might grow my hair so I can disguise myself." He patted his bald head lightly, even though his eyes looked sad. He remembered something from air nomad scrolls that he had read, that they shaved their head as a part of their culture and <em>oh, </em>Aang was <em>hiding his culture that was dead for 100 years. </em>"Since my uncle and I escaped from the North Pole." He remembered the phoenix tale and cringed. Spirits, even if it was traditional it was ugly as a curse. "I hope my hair grows that quick!" </p><p>"You're bald!?"</p><p>"Oh, yeah."</p><p>"Nobody tells me shit!"</p><p>    Aang attempted to pacify Toph and then Zuko felt a hand clamp on his shoulder. "Prince Zuko, we need you to talk now. Come with me." Hakoda guided Zuko to a tent and Zuko felt his heart drop into his stomach.</p><hr/><p>    Sokka knew there was something wrong the second Zuko walked in with his eyes downcast. His shoulders were doing that nervous hunch that they did a lot, especially around grownups, and his fingers kept pinching his hands. "So, Prince Zuko-"</p><p>"Dad, he said that since he's banished, he's not exactly a prince anymore."</p><p>"Oh? Is ok for me to just call you Zuko then?"</p><p>  Zuko looked ready to be sick, his face white and his fingers pinched harder at his hands. "Whatever you like, sir." Oh boy. Maybe four months ago, Sokka would have paid so much to see Prince Jerkbender all fidgety like this but right now it just made Sokka want to get him out of here before Zuko had a heart attack. "Zuko, we were wondering if you had any information on the Fire Nation. Ports, settlements, places where your soldiers are inhabiting the most?" Zuko chewed his lip and pinchedhis hands again. This time, a thin ribbon of blood trailed down the back of his hand. "No-not really. I wouldn't have much information, I haven't been home in three years. My uncle would probably know more, but I still know all the relevant Fire Nation sea codes. They haven't changed for the past twenty years and aren't due to change for the next thirty. I also know the quickest way around the capital, and maybe some stuff has changed but I know things about the palace." Momo, who had come in on Zuko's shoulder, chittered and nipped Zuko's left ear. His little teeth hurt but Zuko just clumsily pet the lemur's head. "That's ok. That's some good information, Zuko. Hey Sokka, you can take Zuko and go catch some fish if you want?" His dad had noticed the three bleeding marks on each of Zuko's hands and was grimacing. "Sure! Let's go!" He watched Zuko unfurl as they got further from the tent, from Sokka's dad. Oh, it was a Dad Thing. Because the Fire Lord was an evil chode. Yeah, why did Sokka want to send Zuko back to the Fire Nation again?</p><hr/><p>   Katara had missed her dad, but the minute she saw him, she felt all the blood in her boil. She missed him, but she was angry. Angry, and sad, and she felt lonely all over again because he left her and Sokka and was only seeing him because they had left the South Pole. It was like they had chased him instead of him returning to them. She turned from him, and let Aang's little shows of swirling petals in his palms or his bright grin combined with a tight hug calm her. "Katara, I think we need to talk." </p><p>"Nothing to talk about, Dad."</p><p>"Katara, are you angry at me for leaving?"</p><p>"Why would you think that?"</p><p>"You're exactly like Kya."</p><p>Katara whipped around, eyes stinging with tears.</p><p>"What, did you leave Mom for years and years too?"</p><p>"No. But she would react just like you. Katara, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you and Sokka, for hurting you two. I love you so much."</p><p>Katara hurled herself into her dad's arms. "I love you. I'm sorry for not talking with you earlier. And I forgive you."</p><p>She stayed hugging him for a long time and maybe she did feel a little angry still but it was buried deep under the warmth of her dad's hug and the smell of the sea. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Mayhaps I lowkey ship bakoda but since I'm going for mainly gen I'll just let it stew in my brain. Kataang is the only straight couple i will give rights to besides my choir teacher and his wife because they are the very few heterosexual couples that improve the quality of my life and that includes my DNA donors and stepfather.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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